Description
This thesis discusses the oppressive and alienating aspects of the current educational system in Japan and suggests an alternative education and schooling, which aim to create ethical, democratic, and liberating society. Centralization of the educational system in Japan came along with the rise of modernization in the early twentieth century and with the expansion of the capitalist economy after World War II. Its emphases on meritocracy, objective or positivistic knowledge, and functionalist view of society suppress students? creativity and ability to think critically about the world and lead them to participate in reproduction of inequality. Such educational system, coupled with authoritarian human relationships at school and a great emphasis on conformity alienates students and produces ijime (school bullying) and futoko (school non-attendance), which might be natural outcomes of such a dehumanizing environment. Therefore, the following five changes are essential to establishing an alternative education and schooling, which aim to create ethical, democratic, and liberating society: (1) decentralization of the current educational system, (2) dialogue and mutual respect between students and teacher, (3) critical understanding of the world (4) eradication of capitalist economy, and (5) extension of critical education to all spheres of society.
